Lateral Stepdowns
bwx3/3 20”
bwx8/8 32”
bwx8/8 32”
bwx8/8 32”
bwx3/3 20”
bwx8/8 32”
bwx8/8 32”
bwx8/8 32”
Safety Squat Bar Squats (5 second eccentrics)
65x3
115x3
155x3
205x3
245x3
295x3
340x7 PR+5lbs & 2 reps
308x6
308x6
308x6
65x3
115x3
155x3
205x3
245x3
295x3
340x7 PR+5lbs & 2 reps
308x6
308x6
308x6
Titan Fitness Frame Deadlifts (16” pick)
115x3
115x3
205x3
295x3
360x3
360x3
360x3
360x3
360x3 (15 second hold last rep)
115x3
115x3
205x3
295x3
360x3
360x3
360x3
360x3
360x3 (15 second hold last rep)
Yoke (beltless)
Casual Pace
210x50’
Normal
300x50’
390x25’
450x25’
500x100’ in 19.42 seconds
500x100’ in 17.49 seconds
500x100’ in 16.33 seconds
Casual Pace
210x50’
Normal
300x50’
390x25’
450x25’
500x100’ in 19.42 seconds
500x100’ in 17.49 seconds
500x100’ in 16.33 seconds
Paused Monster Mondo Leg Presses (2 seconds)
300x3
350x15
350x15
350x15
300x3
350x15
350x15
350x15
Glute Ham Raise Negatives (8 seconds)
bwx8
bwx8
bwx8
bwx8
bwx8
bwx8
Stretching
Comments: Back in the thick of it with training. Plan was lesser intensity but building back up but I knew that what is written isn’t all the things going on and that this could be a tougher session. So part of it was other obligations. My younger sister has started training for strongman again after pretty much stopping back in 2016 (she did the last contest I did before my back injury). Life gets in the way and she’s been back to doing some from of weight training for a little over a year now and she isn’t far off where she was when she was competing despite not touching implements in over 6 years and being limited to 90lbs of weight to lift in current situation. She wants to compete in about 2 months but waiting until beginning of May to “commit” as looking at two different shows with similar events. The one show is actually the same show I’m training for right now but she is on the waitlist so it isn’t guaranteed. This would be the second workout she could do hitting event specific stuff this prep so this meant a bit of deviation from my schedule and planning for a longer day. Longer drive out and longer drive back. I’d say that it definitely doubled my drive time each way. Good bit of people there today. Had to be cognizant of time and stuff since I needed to do my stuff and assist with coaching duties for my sister. There was a very gentle dog there someone was watching for someone. It reminded me of those wooly bear caterpillars in how fuzzy it looked and coloration. I was expecting coarse fur but it was one of the softest and fluffiest things I’ve ever had my hands on. It took quite a bit of willpower on my part to not just pet and hug that dog rather than training haha. So starting things off was lateral stepdowns. Advised here to do 3x8 at RPE 7. I did less warming up than I usually do on these as I’m realizing that it isn’t really preparing me adequately for it. The knees ache and certain joint angles where I stop at are harder with the lower heights. So I did balancing in the full squat to prime each leg and then did a few reps at an in-between height. This seemed to work well enough to prep. As has been the case, the left side aches on the warm ups and then is fine for the reps while the right side is lagging behind and has bit of discomfort. Manageable. Rest breaks between these weren’t even with assisting on stuff for my sister’s training. From there it was on to ssb squats. Doing these with 3-5ct eccentrics. Last time I did these (without pauses) I did 335lbs for 5 with 1-2RIR I think. So I figured that that would be the goal here with the plan being 6 with 2-3RIR and then taking a little off for 3x6. And of course going for the 5ct here. Knees were super achy today. To be fair, haven’t been doing much full ROM squatting in the later half of the last training cycle. Did a good bit of it for the offseason stuff and into the first half of event specific training added. For this show, I have a feeling that a lot more squatting is going to pop up with the deadlift event being a side handle frame affair. I was feeling fine enough working up besides the knees. Honestly, I hadn’t been icing the knees most of the week with doing mostly soft tissue work as they had been feeling relatively well. I went up 5lbs from my goal weight. That was a mistake but only because I forced an error. As I mentioned, the plan was 6 reps with 2-3RIR. But as often the case when keeping track of sets of numbers concurrently, the slightest distraction can be a problem. I miscounted where I was and did an extra rep. If I had stopped when I had done 6, I’d have been within the parameters of 2-3RIR. But by going for another rep, I was now leaving it maybe 1-2RIR. My lower back on the left side was feeling stiff as definitely not fully recovered from the contest. But by putting out more effort here and not leaving as much in the tank, it was going to make the down sets a lot harder. I went with the higher side of the decrease in weight here. I notice that when it comes to these tempo sets on squats that my bracing or core stuff seems to not want to cooperate after 4 reps. I’m sure I’m still bracing but I lose that body awareness/tactile feeling I have in the beginning reps. But also a reason I need to keep doing these. I was definitely not recovering quickly between sets on these squats so I did take longer rests than I usually do to insure I got the reps needed. From there it was on to more event specific things for me. Frame deadlift. The event is reps in 60 seconds with each rep being 50lbs heavier. No split times or anything but it will get heavy real fast with it starting at 650lbs. Already working strategies for it. For now, the plan is working grip a little and speed. As I mentioned, I think first half of this training cycle is going to be doing squats and other stuff as well as maintaining regular floor pulls before switching to heavy comp style stuff here. The frame at the gym that I was using is the same model as the one I have at home so it will be any easy switch when the time comes. So the idea with this today was to do 5x3 EMOM style with 60% of my floor pull and do 10-15 second hold then on the last rep of the last triple. I’m really not sure what my floor pull is as I done 585lbs raw a few times from 2018-2021. But raw floor pull hasn’t been as much a focus and only maxes have been with suit and that has been 635lbs at home and 675lbs at competition. I don’t use a deadlift bar at home and most comps have deadlift bar (and I’m realizing that I get more out of certain ones vs others and need to be mindful of that). So perhaps now thinking about that, I probably should’ve asked for clarification on what to base it on. Or I’m over thinking it. In either case, I decided to base it off of 600lbs. With this kind of weight, I didn’t really see a need for my hard belt. These felt good and I felt powerful. I started vibing to the music so I know that when that happens I’m having a good time/session. Next up was another event for the show, yoke. Yoke is on the lighter side with it being 720lbs for 50’. So gotta go fast. It also appears that we’ll be 5’ away from the yoke to start and have to run up to it when time starts. We’ll get to practicing that but now is just getting feet wet on yoke after all the frame carry. I should be “sitting pretty” for this after all the frame runs. Contest was heavier than this yoke is going to be and I was blitzing that, even when it was misloaded 20lbs heavy at the show. However, I do know that it is similar but different. I don’t tend to get the same stride turnover as I do with farmer’s walk or frame. I can’t lean forward as have to keep things stacked. Also with the pressure I sometimes get fatigue and have one of my legs kind of not fire as well. With that said, the plan here was to work up to 500-550lbs for 3x100’. Beltless and keeping it RPE6-7 with 90-120 seconds rest between the runs. Weather is nice so the doors to the gym were open. Quite a few people training in spaces and I felt it was probably best to do 100’ runs without doing drop and turns for this one. Moving stuff and setting up was a bit of a pain in the ass. Yoke wasn’t feeling great at all warming up. My right knee was feeling wonky. With 560lbs for 50’ being my best in the past year for beltless, I didn’t think it was wise to try that for double the distance three times with somewhat short rests for moving events. So I stuck with 500lbs. Outside was uneven concrete. I asked my sister to time and do commands for this since there weren’t enough cones for me to get my times off and with the shorter rests, I wouldn’t have time to rest the camera to the other side. These sets didn’t feel terrible. Maybe hearing my sister telling me to keep going and be faster helped as over the course of those three sets, I improved my time by over 3 seconds from the first run to the last run. This day was going long and the last two things were stuff with minimal setup and hopefully get finished quickly. So next was leg press. My choice (not that I had any haha) of machine and 2 seconds pauses for 3x10-15 with 3-4RIR. The only leg press was the monster mondo leg press. It reminds me of the “chair” the “space jockey” is found in the movie Alien. Just the sled alone is 300lbs. I was rushing a little and my knees were super achy so I just do a few reps empty sled and then felt 50lbs should be fine for 3x15 with RIR. I have to start at almost the bottom with this thing so using hands to assist with getting locked out before removing the safeties. In hindsight, I probably could’ve gone heavier and kept in the effort range desired. I just have to not rush and do a little more warming up for it I think. I feel I got better as I went and the rep quality also improved. I caught myself about halfway through the second set that I was doing that thing where I was relying on the joints in the pause and not the muscles. That made a difference too. So hopefully these do pop up again where I can continue to work on them as I feel these are also geared toward frame deadlift work as well. Last thing for the session was glute ham raises. But just negatives. 3x8 with bodyweight (could use band help) with 5-8ct. I recall these being really tough and apparently I did 7 with 5ct before. But I wanted more so I went with 8ct. My hamstrings lit up just getting into position haha. I’m getting stronger in the hamstrings as I was able to do these with control with not much trouble. Just knew that my hamstrings would be angry with me. What I have done to make Drew program these for me haha. Cleaned up and did the long drive before getting home to stretch. Going to really need a rest day tomorrow.
Comments: Back in the thick of it with training. Plan was lesser intensity but building back up but I knew that what is written isn’t all the things going on and that this could be a tougher session. So part of it was other obligations. My younger sister has started training for strongman again after pretty much stopping back in 2016 (she did the last contest I did before my back injury). Life gets in the way and she’s been back to doing some from of weight training for a little over a year now and she isn’t far off where she was when she was competing despite not touching implements in over 6 years and being limited to 90lbs of weight to lift in current situation. She wants to compete in about 2 months but waiting until beginning of May to “commit” as looking at two different shows with similar events. The one show is actually the same show I’m training for right now but she is on the waitlist so it isn’t guaranteed. This would be the second workout she could do hitting event specific stuff this prep so this meant a bit of deviation from my schedule and planning for a longer day. Longer drive out and longer drive back. I’d say that it definitely doubled my drive time each way. Good bit of people there today. Had to be cognizant of time and stuff since I needed to do my stuff and assist with coaching duties for my sister. There was a very gentle dog there someone was watching for someone. It reminded me of those wooly bear caterpillars in how fuzzy it looked and coloration. I was expecting coarse fur but it was one of the softest and fluffiest things I’ve ever had my hands on. It took quite a bit of willpower on my part to not just pet and hug that dog rather than training haha. So starting things off was lateral stepdowns. Advised here to do 3x8 at RPE 7. I did less warming up than I usually do on these as I’m realizing that it isn’t really preparing me adequately for it. The knees ache and certain joint angles where I stop at are harder with the lower heights. So I did balancing in the full squat to prime each leg and then did a few reps at an in-between height. This seemed to work well enough to prep. As has been the case, the left side aches on the warm ups and then is fine for the reps while the right side is lagging behind and has bit of discomfort. Manageable. Rest breaks between these weren’t even with assisting on stuff for my sister’s training. From there it was on to ssb squats. Doing these with 3-5ct eccentrics. Last time I did these (without pauses) I did 335lbs for 5 with 1-2RIR I think. So I figured that that would be the goal here with the plan being 6 with 2-3RIR and then taking a little off for 3x6. And of course going for the 5ct here. Knees were super achy today. To be fair, haven’t been doing much full ROM squatting in the later half of the last training cycle. Did a good bit of it for the offseason stuff and into the first half of event specific training added. For this show, I have a feeling that a lot more squatting is going to pop up with the deadlift event being a side handle frame affair. I was feeling fine enough working up besides the knees. Honestly, I hadn’t been icing the knees most of the week with doing mostly soft tissue work as they had been feeling relatively well. I went up 5lbs from my goal weight. That was a mistake but only because I forced an error. As I mentioned, the plan was 6 reps with 2-3RIR. But as often the case when keeping track of sets of numbers concurrently, the slightest distraction can be a problem. I miscounted where I was and did an extra rep. If I had stopped when I had done 6, I’d have been within the parameters of 2-3RIR. But by going for another rep, I was now leaving it maybe 1-2RIR. My lower back on the left side was feeling stiff as definitely not fully recovered from the contest. But by putting out more effort here and not leaving as much in the tank, it was going to make the down sets a lot harder. I went with the higher side of the decrease in weight here. I notice that when it comes to these tempo sets on squats that my bracing or core stuff seems to not want to cooperate after 4 reps. I’m sure I’m still bracing but I lose that body awareness/tactile feeling I have in the beginning reps. But also a reason I need to keep doing these. I was definitely not recovering quickly between sets on these squats so I did take longer rests than I usually do to insure I got the reps needed. From there it was on to more event specific things for me. Frame deadlift. The event is reps in 60 seconds with each rep being 50lbs heavier. No split times or anything but it will get heavy real fast with it starting at 650lbs. Already working strategies for it. For now, the plan is working grip a little and speed. As I mentioned, I think first half of this training cycle is going to be doing squats and other stuff as well as maintaining regular floor pulls before switching to heavy comp style stuff here. The frame at the gym that I was using is the same model as the one I have at home so it will be any easy switch when the time comes. So the idea with this today was to do 5x3 EMOM style with 60% of my floor pull and do 10-15 second hold then on the last rep of the last triple. I’m really not sure what my floor pull is as I done 585lbs raw a few times from 2018-2021. But raw floor pull hasn’t been as much a focus and only maxes have been with suit and that has been 635lbs at home and 675lbs at competition. I don’t use a deadlift bar at home and most comps have deadlift bar (and I’m realizing that I get more out of certain ones vs others and need to be mindful of that). So perhaps now thinking about that, I probably should’ve asked for clarification on what to base it on. Or I’m over thinking it. In either case, I decided to base it off of 600lbs. With this kind of weight, I didn’t really see a need for my hard belt. These felt good and I felt powerful. I started vibing to the music so I know that when that happens I’m having a good time/session. Next up was another event for the show, yoke. Yoke is on the lighter side with it being 720lbs for 50’. So gotta go fast. It also appears that we’ll be 5’ away from the yoke to start and have to run up to it when time starts. We’ll get to practicing that but now is just getting feet wet on yoke after all the frame carry. I should be “sitting pretty” for this after all the frame runs. Contest was heavier than this yoke is going to be and I was blitzing that, even when it was misloaded 20lbs heavy at the show. However, I do know that it is similar but different. I don’t tend to get the same stride turnover as I do with farmer’s walk or frame. I can’t lean forward as have to keep things stacked. Also with the pressure I sometimes get fatigue and have one of my legs kind of not fire as well. With that said, the plan here was to work up to 500-550lbs for 3x100’. Beltless and keeping it RPE6-7 with 90-120 seconds rest between the runs. Weather is nice so the doors to the gym were open. Quite a few people training in spaces and I felt it was probably best to do 100’ runs without doing drop and turns for this one. Moving stuff and setting up was a bit of a pain in the ass. Yoke wasn’t feeling great at all warming up. My right knee was feeling wonky. With 560lbs for 50’ being my best in the past year for beltless, I didn’t think it was wise to try that for double the distance three times with somewhat short rests for moving events. So I stuck with 500lbs. Outside was uneven concrete. I asked my sister to time and do commands for this since there weren’t enough cones for me to get my times off and with the shorter rests, I wouldn’t have time to rest the camera to the other side. These sets didn’t feel terrible. Maybe hearing my sister telling me to keep going and be faster helped as over the course of those three sets, I improved my time by over 3 seconds from the first run to the last run. This day was going long and the last two things were stuff with minimal setup and hopefully get finished quickly. So next was leg press. My choice (not that I had any haha) of machine and 2 seconds pauses for 3x10-15 with 3-4RIR. The only leg press was the monster mondo leg press. It reminds me of the “chair” the “space jockey” is found in the movie Alien. Just the sled alone is 300lbs. I was rushing a little and my knees were super achy so I just do a few reps empty sled and then felt 50lbs should be fine for 3x15 with RIR. I have to start at almost the bottom with this thing so using hands to assist with getting locked out before removing the safeties. In hindsight, I probably could’ve gone heavier and kept in the effort range desired. I just have to not rush and do a little more warming up for it I think. I feel I got better as I went and the rep quality also improved. I caught myself about halfway through the second set that I was doing that thing where I was relying on the joints in the pause and not the muscles. That made a difference too. So hopefully these do pop up again where I can continue to work on them as I feel these are also geared toward frame deadlift work as well. Last thing for the session was glute ham raises. But just negatives. 3x8 with bodyweight (could use band help) with 5-8ct. I recall these being really tough and apparently I did 7 with 5ct before. But I wanted more so I went with 8ct. My hamstrings lit up just getting into position haha. I’m getting stronger in the hamstrings as I was able to do these with control with not much trouble. Just knew that my hamstrings would be angry with me. What I have done to make Drew program these for me haha. Cleaned up and did the long drive before getting home to stretch. Going to really need a rest day tomorrow.
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